


The Girl With The Straw Hat

by imaginaryinspiration



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Cute, F/M, Finally, Fluff, and they're just really bad at communication, ash realizes, because these two dumbasses love each other but ash is too clueless, literally most fluff, they're so cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26076481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginaryinspiration/pseuds/imaginaryinspiration
Summary: Ash actually DOES remember Serena. Somehow, this changes things.(Or, one dumbass meets another and they're in love but neither of them tell each other and Ash wonders why he's blushing all the time and Serena tries not to fall head over heels in love with him. She fails.)
Relationships: Satoshi | Ash Ketchum/Serena
Comments: 8
Kudos: 66





	The Girl With The Straw Hat

**Author's Note:**

> They're cute together
> 
> Also, they're not 10. like just, no. They're teens, because Ash was ten in 1997 and there's no way he's still ten. They're like 16, so kissing is okay.

“Do you….remember me?”

He narrowed his eyes. He’d felt something familiar about her, for sure. Her smile and worried face struck a bell deep inside, but he couldn’t quite place it. It nagged at his mind and it had since he’d first seen her face. He’d seen her before. He felt a strange sense of deja-vu flow through him. Where was this girl from?

Tilting his head and rubbing his neck sheepishly, he smiled. “Can you help me out, here? Give me a hint?”

At his request, she pulled out a pink and red handkerchief and handed it carefully over to him. He took it, gingerly, trying to remember why this brought back such familiar memories. This…was his. He started carrying handkerchiefs around when he was younger in case he needed to use it as a bandage for himself or a Pokémon after hurting his own ankle falling over in the chase of some. But…somehow this girl had gotten it. He looked back up at her expectant stare and oh _man_ , she was familiar! He clenched his fists and his eyes and tried to remember. This was going to bug him for so long!

“…It was at Professor Oak’s summer Pokémon camp…” The girl remarked helpfully. And _wait!_ Oh my gosh! He looked up at her and in her face now, he saw the face of a little girl with a straw hat. Tears about to overflow, and he’d given her the handkerchief, and!

He felt heat rush into his face as he remembered when he’d pulled her into his arms, and the times after that. She’d started following him around, and he didn’t mind. Pulling on his arm, so demanding and yet so timid at the same time. The little smile and her admiration of him that had set him blushing and giggling nervously even then, and then wondering why he was feeling that way. Why were there Butterfree in his gut? So he’d just smiled and asked Mommy to take a picture on her Polaroid so that he wouldn’t forget her. Damnit, what was her _name?_

At his change in expression and the way his eyes lit up with obvious recognition, Serena calmed and looked at him expectantly. “You’re the girl with the straw hat!”

She couldn’t help the gigantic smile that split her cheeks, heating fast, excitement bubbling up and Vivillion fluttering around in her stomach. He _remembered her!_ Ash remembered her! The little boy that had caught her heart, the feelings she’d foolishly held onto for so many years. She was _fifteen,_ and yet she couldn’t forget her childhood crush from when she was _seven years old._ But, here he was! It only made sense that she would’ve never seen him again, but here he was! Right in front of her. And was that a blush on his cheeks…? No, no. She was just off in dreamland again, it was just wishful thinking, right?

But his cheeks only turned more red. He looked at her, smiling ashamedly and scratching his cheek. “I’m sorry, I don’t…remember your name. I remember _you,_ but I’m really bad at names. Sorry!” He said once more looking at her slightly fallen facial expression. 

“No, no, it’s okay! I’m just glad you remember _me._ I’m Serena. You’re Ash, right?”

“ _Serena! That’s it!”_

She giggled, now a little embarrassed. He reflected her behavior, and soon the little girl and the teenage boy who were also with Ash started to chuckle too, a little offset. But she knew she _had to, had to_ travel with Ash! All her feelings for him had come rushing back when she’d seen him on TV, and she’d traveled all the way to Lumiose and then Laverre city to catch up to this boy and she wasn’t going to let him leave without her!

-.-.-.-

As the sun was setting, and Ash and his companions looked ready to leave, she panicked a little. She reached out a hand, and her cheeks turned red, and she said “Can I come with you guys? Please?”

By _you guys,_ she meant _Ash,_ and she faltered when she realized how direct she was being. She was usually so much more polite! But Ash, after his initial shock, smiled like this was familiar. After all, he picked up traveling companions like Beedrill to honey. But, unlike what he was used to, he felt a warmth in his cheeks that seemed to be happening more today than it had in years.

“Of course! We’d be happy to have you along for the journey!”

The other two only agreed after they saw Ash agreeing, like they’d already designated him as the leader. And so, trying to keep her excited squeal inside, she hurried along to join them and they set off into the forest on their walk to the next town.

-.-.-.-

She felt so _guilty._ She hadn’t meant to get him hurt! And yet, in trying to help her shoot her Pokévision video, they’d managed to find themselves, alone, off the side of the cliff; and worse than that, he was _hurt!_ And it was _her fault!_

But as she searched his face for any anger or disappointment, or even pain, she found none. He just smiled at her, softly, seemingly able to read her perfectly. “Serena, don’t blame yourself for me getting hurt. I’m fine! See?”

He tried to get up from the ground but instead tripped and would’ve fallen flat on his face if she didn’t catch him. “No, you’re not fine, now go sit down and let me help you.”

“Okay, fine, but you have to know I don’t blame you. Stuff like this has happened a lot. It’s part of being a Pokémon trainer, and that’s why it’s awesome to have friends like you to help me back up!” He smiled with a pump of her fist, and she couldn’t help but blush, of course. This was the same boy that had helped her all those years ago when she’d fallen, scared of a tiny Pokémon. He’d shown her the kindness she hadn’t found with the other kids at the camp, too busy ignoring her because she was a foreigner. Now, she was going to help him, the same way he’d helped her. It was all she could do, but damnit, she was going to do it as best she could!

And so she got cold water, and tried to get down the swelling on his foot. If only she had an ice pack…

They sat, and talked, while they waited for help to come. And he regaled her with stories of his travels, and quite a few times when he’d been much dumber and more immature than she could believe. Ash? _Her Ash?_ Dumb and immature? No way! He was so smart, and helpful, and caring, and nice, and _handsome,_ and!

Oh my Gosh! What was she thinking! Her face felt like it was on fire, and she knew she must be as red as a tomato. Ah, this was so embarrassing!

She looked at him, and he looked puzzled, and he asked why she was so red. “What are you thinking about?”

“I-I, I was thinking about how you’re ama- I mean, there’s no way you were ever that immature, I mean, you’re so _mature,_ and-and smart, and brave, and awesome, and—!” She clamped her hands over her mouth. Why couldn’t she just _shut up??_ She wanted to crawl in a hole, at least to get away from Ash’s surprised gaze.

He blushed, _hard._ Rubbing his hand behind his neck, he chucked, embarrassed. “I don’t know about all that, but thanks. Believe it or not, I really was that dumb! I’ve done some pretty stupid things, I’ll admit, and I still do them now, sometimes. Just ask Pikachu! He’d be the first one to tell you just how much of a novice I was when I first started out.”

Why was he blushing so much? Why was this suddenly a thing? Sure, he’d gotten embarrassed before, but usually it was at the hand of being humiliated by one of his rivals, or even his friends, and though he’d grown out of being ready to throw punches, he still would yell, or get angry. But now, he was blushing because someone was _praising_ him, not humiliating him. And it was so _easy_ to see what he was feeling. Why was this only happening now? And why couldn’t it stop? He hated this new development and would really like it if his body stopped, right now.

Finally, they heard voices calling their name, and they got help. And Ash, even though it was nothing against Serena, couldn’t have been more relieved to be out of that situation.

-.-.-.-

She was saying goodbye. She was on the escalator, _leaving._ And he didn’t want her to leave. He _really didn’t want her to leave,_ and he didn’t realize until _just now_ how much he _didn’t want her to leave!_ And it was going to be too late to do anything, if he didn’t do anything right now! And he took a breath in, ready to say _something,_ even though he didn’t know what that something was yet, and he wasn’t used to feeling so unsure, when Serena suddenly turned around. And then she was running up the escalator, something she was not supposed to do, and what was that look in her eyes? She looked so confident, and eager, and she was coming forward, and he was stunned to speechlessness, because _what was she doing?_ And then she got right up in his face, and then she got closer, and then she was right there.

His eyes widened faster and wider than he thought they could. She was _kissing him._ And his mind was reeling over the implications of it, and time slowed down, and ohmygoddidshelikehimandohmygodididhelikeher because he wasn’t pulling away and he didn’t want to pull away and he leaned towards her and then the escalator was pulling her away but he didn’t want to let go but he also didn’t want them to tumble down together. And then she was separated from him and there seemed to be stars in her eyes and she was glowing and he felt like he was glowing like he was going to float because ohmygod but he didn’t want her to go!

And so, red from head to toe, he said “Wait!” and before he knew it he was moving, he was running down the escalator, after her, because she couldn’t leave, not like this, not when he _finally realized_ that he _liked her,_ and that’s what this feeling was, that’s what he’d been feeling so long, that’s why he started blushing, that’s why he couldn’t help thinking about if she was okay, when he was up on that tower, ignoring his own predicament as he stared down at the city in ruins, why her smile made him so happy, and why he felt like he was floating right now. Because he _liked her,_ and she _had_ to like him, right, because of what she’d done just now? And because she blushed just as much as him if not more?

But there was no time to question, anyway, because he couldn’t even control his feet as they brought him closer to her, and she was at the bottom, and then so was he, and he didn’t know what to do now, but she was so close, and they looked into each others’ eyes like there was nothing more perfect in the world, and then she was up on her toes again and her lips were on his and he knew that this just felt _right._ He’d had his fair share of kisses (including from _legendary Pokémon,_ not even all from human girls), but this was different because this was right. And this is what he wanted, too. So he leaned into it and even though it lasted only slightly longer than a peck, because they were both pretty new at this and it wasn’t something that came naturally to him, he was so happy. And Serena looked like she was on cloud nine, and she’d never looked more beautiful than in that moment.

And then the last call for boarding her plane blared over the loudspeaker, and reality crushed in that she had to leave, and she had to go _right now,_ but he _really really did not want that to happen,_ and she looked so reluctant that he knew neither did she, but they didn’t know what to do, and they just stood there, still, until she spoke up and said “I’m not getting on that plane, I don’t care! I’m not giving up on you Ash Ketchum, because I have waited for so long for us to do that!”

And he smiled, and hugged her, and picked her up, and she squealed, surprised, because he was literally the same height as her, and he shouldn’t have been able to do that so easily. And they ran up the escalator to see a still furiously blushing Clemont and a shocked but smirking Bonnie, and she said “Finally! Ash do you know how _long_ I’ve been waiting for that?!”

And Ash skipped his flight back home to Kanto, for now, because there were some things that felt more important. He had no idea what their plan was, or what they were going to do, but they were together, and he realized how dumb he’d been for so long, because looking back it was _so obvious_ that Serena liked him, and it was _so obvious_ that he liked her too, but he was just too oblivious. But now that he realized, he wasn’t going to let her go. And he knew that he’d follow her, or maybe she’d follow him, onto their next adventure, but for now, they could enjoy a night under the stars in Lumiose. After all, it _was_ the city of love.


End file.
